*I am not 100% sure about the correct name of the venue: "Sommer" is German for "Summer", and I have seen a ticket stub from this show that read "Sommer Arena - Open Air". That might be the reason why the artwork of this bootleg gives the venue name as "Summer Arena". However, an internet search seems to suggest that there is no "Sommer Arena" or "Sommerarena", but only an "Arena" in Vienna (while a venue called "Sommerarena" is located in Baden, a different place in Austria). Maybe "Sommer Arena Open Air" was the name of the event rather than the name of the location? When a friend from Vienna uploaded an AUD source from this show on Perfect Purple a few years ago, he simply called the venue "Arena". Thus, until further notice I assume that "Arena" is the correct name.

This silver-rip was uploaded on TTD by TTD member "Sabbath" in February 2008. In a comment to that upload, "Stulken" shared the front+back artwork scans that I also include in this re-upload. The FLAC files were soon re-uploaded on Dime by "Crazydare" in April 2008; I received them from my friend "RoryGallagher" who probably got them from TTD, Dime or from some FTP server or DC++ hub. Many thanks to all of these people and anybody else involved! The FLAC files in this fileset verify perfectly with the FLAC fingerprints in the original TTD upload thread; I only added this additional info file, a spectral picture, the aforementioned artwork scans and new fingerprint files. Everything else is unchanged.

Soundwise this is one of the best-sounding Sabbath bootlegs ever - crystal clear SBD, except for some noises (sounds like digital crackles or maybe radio statics, see below) in "War Pigs" (most notable at min 0:06, 3:35, 3:49, 5:18 and 7:35 of that song) and "The Shining" (0:01, 3:25, 3:52 and 5:50). Maybe other tracks are affected as well, but these are the two with the most serious problems. These crackles were present on the original silver discs - not just the discs that were used for this rip, but apparently on ALL copies of this bootleg, as far as I know. "Edtrader" once claimed on Joe Siegler's forum that those noises were radio statics and were due to FM-origin, while, according to him, a Pre-FM source alsop existed that didn't show any such crackles (his statements are still here: ). Anyway, Edtrader also claimed those clean copies were easy to find on the internet, which is definitely NOT the case. The only widely circulated copies of this show without the noise are sourced from an AUD recording that still sounds nice, but significantly inferior overall compared to this SBD (or FM? version). If there is any SBD or Pre-FM version out there without the crackles, it is not in any wider circulation so far. Of course I'd be happy if you prove me wrong....

...SO IF ANYONE HERE HAS A SBD OR PRE-FM COPY OF THIS SHOW WITHOUT THOSE DIGITAL CRACKLES, PLEASE SHARE IT! HUGE THANKS IN ADVANCE!

Some of you might have seen a rip of another copy of the "Headless in Vienna" silver bootleg up on Dime a while ago - its info file mentioned that it was "Taken from the liberated bootleg 'Headless In Vienna' Langley" and had been "Tranformed in Flac 8 Best with AVS Audio Converter 6". That version was uploaded in 2010 by "Krazyeagle", and I noticed it had at least two clicks between tracks - that's why I decided to share the rip I am uploading now rather than Krazyeagle's version. The copy I am uploading here does NOT seem to have any clicks between tracks (at least none that I am able to hear), so I assume this is a better rip. Anyway, it does not have an EAC log file, and how it was ripped from the silvers is unknown, so IF ANYONE HERE IS ABLE TO PROVIDE ANOTHER RIP WITH AN EAC LOG FILE CONFIRMING IT WAS RIPPED WITH NO ERRORS, I'D DEFINITELY BE INTERESTED!

Yet another copy of this bootleg, uploaded by fellow Dimer "Stulken" in 2007, soon turned out to be lossy-sourced, while the files I am uploading here look perfectly lossless to me (see spectral pic included).

What else to say about this recording? Well, Tony Martin's voice is still in really good shape here - so much better than in 1994 and later, when a throat infection and maybe other factors caused a significant decline of his vocal abilities. 1989, as we can hear on this recording, is a completely different story. While Sabbath's setlists were more interesting in 1994 than in 1989, Tony Martin's voice still shines in 1989, though not as perfectly as in 1987.

"Supertzar" was added to this recording afterwards. Sabbath didn't use "Supertzar" as their intro during the "Headless Cross" tour. Not surprisingly, the AUD recording available from this show contains the usual "Ave Satani"/"The Gates of Hell" intro and no "Supertzar".

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ORIGINAL UPLOADER'S INFO:

"Black Sabbath
Summer Arena; Vienna, Austria
September 24, 1989

Silver rip> FLAC6> FTP> Make Torrent2> You!

Afraid I hadda one-up ya Mr. Spock! Here's another soundboard for all you Martin era fans. One of my very,very favorites, in my whole collection! Great sound, great performance, just great all around! Taken from the silver boot "Headless In Vienna" (Langley cat. #262).

Supertzar
The Gates Of Hell
Headless Cross
Neon Knights
Children Of The Sea
Die Young
When Death Calls
War Pigs
The Shining
The Mob Rules
Guitar intro
Black Sabbath
Iron Man
Children Of The Grave
Heaven And Hell
Paranoid
Heaven And Hell [reprise]"